I'd like to call this October fourteenth, two thousand twenty-five meeting of City Hall, City Council to order.

Madam Clerk would please call the roll.

Councilmember Greg.

Here, Councilmember Sheeley.

Here, Councilmember McBride, Councilmember Mitchell, Councilmember Brady, President, Councilmember Gregory, Councilmember Waring, Councilmember Seekings, Councilmember Tinkler, Councilmember Balden, Councilmember Appel, Councilmember Parker, Mayor Cogswell.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

In light of recent events, I'd like to throw it to my buddy Councilmember Appel this evening.

All right.

Come on up, man, you got front and center.

This is honoring uh metastatic breast cancer awareness day.

Whereas breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women and metastatic breast cancer or MBC, where when cancer spreads beyond the chest is responsible for 98% of breast cancer deaths with no known cure.

And whereas in 2025, an estimated 42,680 Americans and 685,000 people worldwide will lose their lives to MBC, yet less than 13% of global breast cancer research funding is dedicated to this stage.

And whereas increased investment in MBC research is critical to developing better treatments and transforming it from a terminal illness into a survival survivable condition.

And whereas black women are 40% more likely to die from breast cancer than white women, and Hispanic women face breast cancer as their leading cause of cancer death, underscoring the urgent need for equity in research and care.

And whereas meta avi medium, is that the right pronunciation?

Meta Avior Research and Support Funds, Stage 4 MBC Research, MetaViver.

Okay, guys, I need to take reading lessons.

Apologies for that.

Metavir Research and Support Fund Stage 4 MBC Research and the Global Light Up MBC campaign raises awareness each October 13th by illuminating landmarks worldwide in teal, green, and pink to honor lost lives and inspire hope.

And whereas the city of Charleston proudly joins the MBC community in raising awareness and advocating for research that saves lives.

Now, therefore, I William S.

Cogswell Jr., mayor of the City of Charleston to hereby proclaim October 13th, 2025 as metastatic breast cancer awareness day.

Thank you.

It'll look great.

It'll look really good.

You want to say a few?

I just wanted to say thank you so much.

Yep, thank you.

Let's get a picture.

Sorry, I'm here.

Pay you back for mispronouncing the name.

Thank you so much.

All right.

We got them, right?

Association Blind, come on up.

Where's she going?

She is taking.

Whereas the visual health of our residents is essential to the continued well-being and vitality of our families, businesses, and communities.

And whereas rates of vision loss are projected to double by 2030 as the population ages and as epidemics like diabetes surge.

And whereas the city of Charleston recognizes that access to education, skills training, and support services is essential for the health, safety, and functionality and continued well-being of our residents who are blind or have low vision.

And whereas the Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired South Carolina, ABVI, a 501c3 founded on October 14th, 1936, has provided services to help individuals who are blind who have low vision develop skills to live safe, independent, and rewarding lives for 89 years.

And whereas ABVI provides vision, specific adaptive training skills for South Carolinians with visual disabilities at facilities in the low country, the Midlands, and the Ustate, as well as through in-home community-based and virtual trainings.

And whereas the month of October includes National World Sight Day on October 9th, ABVI's birthday on October 14th, and National White Cane Day on October 15th.

And whereas an observance of October is ABVI Awareness Month will help raise awareness of visual disabilities, the challenges individuals with visible visual disabilities face daily, the capabilities of individuals who are blind or have low vision, particularly in the workplace, and the importance of vision rehabilitation in our community.

And ABVI Awareness Month and urge citizens throughout the city of Charleston to join in the celebration and work together to increase understanding of blindness, visual impairments, and to raise awareness of the need for appropriate and accessible vision education skills and training services.

So this is to note that October is ABV Visual Awareness Month.

Come on up.

Come on up.

It's pretty well covered in the proclamation, but I'll say it's always an honor to be recognized, but especially on your birthday, 89 years.

And what started in Charleston on October 14th, 1936 has become a statewide operation providing life-changing vision rehabilitation services to individuals of all ages across South Carolina.

Um, so we want to say thank you to you, Mr.

Mayor, and to the entire city of Charleston for highlighting this mission.

As you heard, with rates of vision loss expected to double over the next several years, this becomes more critical by the day.

Um so thank you all for helping us empower individuals who are blind or low vision to live fulfilling purpose-driven lives.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We have society.

I gotta uh give one personal note on uh association for the blind.

My grandmother, Arge Cox was a huge believer and board member, longtime board member, and I still have chairs that have the cane back that were done by uh a lot of the folks that went through uh the Association Blind Facility on Pitt Street, I believe.

And probably the chairs you're sitting in were caned by a lot of those individuals as well.

Oh, wow, okay.

All right.

She's watching.

Okay, um, let's see, moving on.

We have no public hearings tonight.

We need uh an approval of council minutes.

Motion made, property seconded any discussion.

If not, all those in favor signify by saying aye.

Opposed, eyes have it.

We are now on to citizens' participation.

Uh, Madam Clerk, how many people do we have signed up?

We have five.

All right, we'll give everybody a minute and a half since we have uh a few speakers tonight.

Again, a reminder the rules of the decorum.

We ask that you remain civil.

This is not a back and forth.

This is where for you to hear, have your voices heard.

Uh so uh if as long as you abide by the rules, you're welcome.

Uh I'll give you one warning, if not, and two mornings we'll ask you to leave the meeting.

So, Madam Clark, would you call the first speaker?

All right, the time is a minute and a half.

Anthony G.

Bryant.

Speech is so important.

Speech is everything to me.

Dialogue is important to me.

I don't care if I like you and I like speech.

So if I don't like your speech, I like your speech.

But I like my speech too.

So let's get into it.

I filed two lawsuits, U.S.

Army Corps engineers, Department of Education, FBI, DEA, and others.

That qualifies me for two lawsuits I filed in protest, and certain in this court, two lawsuits would then be a paper terrorist.

And in terms of my comments regarding Israel and Gaza, which is very unpopular, South Clown, and Tim Scott appointed Joe Dawson, who has a board member of the BZE, who pre-injunct my case, which would then make me a paper terrorist, a qualified paper terrorist.

I'm in lines with Jimmy the Stone of Rebellion, Nat Turner, Denvax VZ, and everybody who made me free.

So if I'm going to be called these names in the court, I'm going to tell my own story.

So I'm going to file another suit, and each suit is 30 years in jail, three suits is 90 years in jail.

That's how much I fear the paper terrorist group.

Not at all.

Pro se litigation is that you files a pro-cidicate.

If you poor, you request for poverty.

That's what I'm about.

The truth is forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne.

Have a nice evening.

Mohammed Idrees.

Evening.

When I look at this audience on the council, you look like a horseshoe.

And the mayor, you know, you have the state, you throw the horse shoe at the state, and the one who gets the closest win.

Why I'm bringing that up?

That picture we have up there of our first president who have never told a lie at that time.

He has a horse.

And the whole backside is looking at the council, looking at the people.

Why would they have it up there like that?

What did the mayor say to the public?

Would you tell me?

Thank you.

Anna B.

Johnson.

Good evening, Mr.

Mayor and the Council members.

I'm Anna Johnson, former member of Charleston County Council.

And also the great great granddaughter of Plenty White, the founder of Honey Hill, and 1871.

And I'm here today to ask you all to survey the cemetery on that piece of property.

The Honey Hill Graveyard is there, along with the Stephen Washington Ballpark.

A survey was done, partially done about a year ago.

And I really want to see that survey completed so that we can have a really good boundary of what the cemetery is before any further development is happening in the area, and we don't know that there's a graveyard there.

We are aware that there's some amenities coming to the Stephen Washington Park, and we welcome that.

We just asked that you uh survey that area first before you uh place those amenities um the property.

And uh when that is done, you're not gonna forget about the Honey Hill Cemetery itself that has not been completed because I do know that there is some burials more than what is there now with the headstones that we see.

So I want to thank you so much for listening to me, and it's a joy to be in here one more time.

It's it's been a long time since I've been here.

Thank you.

Joe McGee.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh, and members of council.

Joe McGee, I'm president of the Hollison Village Association, so we'd like to address you with the some comments and suggested refinements to the NUSC overlay ordinance.

Um the association supports MUSC's expansion as proposed near Cancer Center.

We want this growth to succeed.

And we trust the UMC will be a better neighbor than the ordinance currently allows.

The overlay should be amended to mitigate some flooding risks and promote human-scaled growth in Charleston.

We asked for three refinements.

First, saw the flooding together.

When Calhoun Street floods, so does uh Hallison Billage, so does MEOC.

Their floodwater is ours.

Each project should assess off-campus stormwater impacts and require system improvements where needed.

We have stringent standards, but there's some additional clauses that are warranted.

Two, soften the campus edges, add 20 feet setbacks along Calhoun, Ashley, and Rutledge, and limit building height at 261 Calhoun to match MEOC's own plans.

Currently allowed at 76 feet, seven and a half stories.

Don't think that that will be required.

And we want to contain tall growth, tall building on the south side of Calhoun.

Number three, address traffic impacts.

Uh projects increasing traffic by more than 20 percent should require a transportation plan.

Our proposal to you.

We must get uh ahead of the traffic planning to not overwhelm the neighborhoods that are nearby to allow emergency vehicles to access emergency services, time to ensure commuters can get back and forth.

So we ask for those three amendments to the ordinance tonight as you think about it.

Leeroy Davis.

Uh there's a lot of lot of my friends and families is in the graveyard.

I just want to know that we would just like to see it be done completely.

Just put the word of God for ascending.

And then it'd be done.

Thank you.

And those are all the speakers that we had.

We did receive two comments from Mr.

McGee and Mr.

Bryant.

They were sent to council in full.

And Mr.

McGee provided some comments that are on your desks.

We have one more.

Sorry.

I can't believe I did that.

I'm Lisa Jones.

I'm with Historic Charleston Foundation.

And I'm here tonight to speak on two agenda items.

The first one is the medical university district.

We appreciate MUSC and the city's effort to include community feedback in the development of the overlay.

Although we'd still like to see a reduction in the overall height and more public engagement and information on the demolition requests, we are generally optimistic about the future of the district.

We hope that the city and MUSC will continue to work with the community and the neighbors and the preservation groups and with the general public to build a project that's good for public health and also additive to the quality of life for Charleston residents.

We look forward to uh working together.

The second item I'd like to address is agenda item N1, which is the first reading of an amendment to the BAR ordinance that would allow applicants in the historical materials demolition district to opt into BAR purview if they want to show the board their plans for the future.

Currently in this district, applicants are only allowed to show what they are demolishing, for example, a rectangle cut out of a roof or wall.

Because BIBAR cannot ask about future plans, they are often forced to deny the request due to potential risks.

This is frustrating to both parties.

The amendment being discussed today would allow the applicants to voluntarily show BAR future plans for construction and then agree to follow those plans as part of the demolition approval.

It's a win-win amendment that makes it easy for both parties to build on Charleston's historic character.

And we try partners in supporting this.

That's it.

Thank you.

All right.

That's all we have.

All right.

We're now moving on to petitions and communications.

Um there are a few appointments and reappointments for city housing authority, comment accommodations tax, advisory committee, commission on the arts, code enforcement officers.

Can I entertain a motion?

Motion made uh for approval of all appointments, properly seconded.

Any further discussion on this?

If none, all those in favor signify by saying aye.

Opposed.

Ayes have it.

Okay.

Um we're now on to presentation.

I'm going to give briefly uh about an effort that has been ongoing at the city.

And I'll just start with saying that something that you all are well aware of.

There are a lot of great people that work for the city of Charleston.

As mayor, I will say it's been an honor these past 18 months to work with these folks.

Uh so uh when you have 2,000 employees, though, uh, with a lot going on, it's smart to occasionally take a step back and look and assess at how we are functioning as a city and see what we can do better and see how we can be more efficient and see how we can serve our residents and our community better.

I want to give a special shout out to Liz Deek and Tammy, our new HR director for their efforts on leading this charge.

And what I mean by this charge, we've been focusing on uh establishing or re-establishing our mission, our vision, and our values.

And we gave this brief presentation to the HR committee, but I think it's important for you all to just know what we have going on.

Um because I honestly think it's pretty exciting.

Um a few notes here.

I'm not gonna wing this one because of all the efforts that have been put on to date, but again, over the past several months, uh we've been setting up a clear strategic direction for our staff, one that renews what we all know is our commitment to public service.

It strengthens our pride and our work and ultimately results in happier employees and better service to our residents.

So to achieve this, uh we needed a shared vision, a unified purpose across all departments, and something that fosters collaboration, alignment, and accountability towards common goals.

So we had uh a two-day retreat off site uh with city management with an expert in city management to define just what our mission vision and our values are as city and city staff members.

And I want to stress that this wasn't mandated on uh the employees.

It was something that was truly a collaborative effort involving leaders from every major department, including our chiefs, section heads, and key members of our management and uh administrative teams.

And again, we had Liz Deke, we had Chief Walker, we had Chief Curia, our CFO Amy Wharton, Chief Legal uh Julia Copeland, again, all section chiefs, our auditor, Crystal Carter, um uh Clerk, uh Jennifer Cook, Josh Martin, and Hampton Logan.

So the goal for this work uh was to guide everything that we do from how we write job descriptions and get smart goals to how we define purpose, uh, recognize performance and implement, of course, the compensation study.

So, in short, this gives us a solid foundation for strategic planning and service excellence, one that aligns our efforts and helps every employee understand the why behind our work.

So I believe now that we have a strong foundation to build on, a set of guiding principles that reflect who we are as a city organization and who we aspire to be in the service of Charleston.

So, our mission, drum roll.

Uh, our mission is to provide exceptional public service and vital community infrastructure while preserving a commitment to people in place.

Our vision is to envision a vibrant, livable, resilient community guided by civility and service.

And our values, we define this as ACEs.

We had to have you know one acronym in there, right?

Uh so it's accountability, which is taking responsibility for our actions and our outcomes with transparency and with integrity.

Collaboration, which is valuing collective effort over individual achievement, excellence, which is expecting the best of ourselves and of others, stewardship, which is guiding and protecting our built and natural environment, our people and our culture, and wrapping it up with service, giving ourselves for the benefit of others.

Now, again, folks, just wanted to make you aware of this.

There is no action needed from you all, but it has been a very rewarding exercise to go through, one that I'm proud to say uh all the staff took very seriously, leaned in, and I think it's been an incredible exercise that's going to lead to again more efficiencies, uh, better employ better uh service from our employees, better work environment, et cetera, and then into more concrete steps like uh updating our standard operating procedures and our compensation study and figuring out how we can uh adopt performance-based metrics uh to reward our employees uh for all of the hard work that they do on a day-in, day out basis.

So, again, no action here needed, but just did want to give a shout out uh to staff and those that led this effort because I think it has been an incredible time well spent.

Um other questions on that.

If not, we can move along on the items.

Uh I think we are now on to council communications and councilman Greg, I think has a topic, a very simple topic he wants to take up, uh, but I think is an important one for discussion.

Thank you, Greg.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

So this is on the uh agenda is um e-bike issues, but um, I don't know if you are like me, but this is probably the number one complaint I get out of folks in District One now is uh issues with e-bikes, and they're actually not e-bikes, I learned because an e-bike is limited to 750 watts and below 20 miles per hour.

Uh, I have seen what I could guess I would only call these describe these as e motorcycles, uh driving down Clemens Ferry Road.

Um when I talk to uh the police um in District One, what I hear is that they don't have the tools available to uh get these kids off the road, as is typical.

Um our uh state legislature is far too uh slow to react to things like this, new technologies.

Um I guess I wanted to bring it up for discussion to see if there's something that we can do as a city um to implement a registration requirement, additional insurance requirements, um some additional restriction on these uh e-motorcycles is what I'm gonna call them.

Um to try to get some of these things off the road, uh particularly off of main uh arteries like Clements Ferry Road, for example, or uh I'm not gonna last probably shouldn't say this, but one of my kids showed me uh a TikTok video of a kid riding them down 526, um, which to me is frightening.

So um I I understand it's not our job to uh legislate everything and uh to prevent stupidity, but um I do hope there's something that we can do as a city to try to empower law enforcement to um to get these off at least uh restrict some of these on the road.

I also am aware that if if we do something, it's going to add an additional burden to our law enforcement.

Um, and I guess I want to be mindful of that as well.

So I wanted to bring it up.

I know it's a major issue in District One.

I don't know if if you're seeing other things in the other districts in the city, but it is a major safety concern.

Um, I just wanted to put it out there and see if there's something we can do.

Um, I I know Mount Pleasant tried to implement some additional restrictions on these.

Um, I don't know where that stands, and I don't know what what we can do outside of state law to try to get get e-motorcycles off the road.

So thank you.

Uh appreciate you bringing it up.

Councilman Seekings.

Sure.

Um, thank you, Councilmember Greg.

Um, I think all of us in every district around the city and anywhere you go around the United States today recognizes that the modernization of the traditional bicycle has changed dramatically.

Um, and you you sort of touched on one of the things that's really important about this conversation.

That is defining exactly what is and what isn't an e-bike, right?

So we have had discussions with the mayor and legal council about bringing something to TNT to try it to see if we can't at least get some groundwork going on an agreement on what an e-bike is and what it isn't, and how we want to regulate them in the city, it needs to something to be done.

If you've read the Mount Pleasant ordinance, I actually don't think that fits us, but it might fit by the way, Daniel Island.

So we'll have to talk about it.

Um, we held off bringing it to TNT because of the discussions we're having about the T.

So it'll come to TNT.

You're on that committee.

We will take it up in this calendar year and get something on the books, and we'll include Chief Walker and his team to make sure that whatever we adopt is enforceable and that there's commitment to enforcement, right?

I mean, I think in the end, that's really a deal.

But I I can tell you District 8, um, which is generally great, but every now and then not so.

And um, there's tons of electric bike challenges on the peninsula, got the college there.

Um Calvin Street is not immune to it.

I mean, it's crazy some of the things you see there.

So I think scooters, scooters.

So we we we have had a commitment for the mayor that through TNT and through our legal team and with the police department um and staff that Mr.

Summerfield, Mr.

Mathis, and his team that will go through our existing ordinances, see what fits what doesn't, and then add or delete whatever isn't working and make sure that we have a uniform agreement going forward, particularly when it comes to the e-bike generation, which is I mean, there's all sorts.

You got pedal assist, you've got the throttle assist, you've got full-on e-bikes coming tonight right through the intersection of um broad and meeting street.

There was an e-bike that came through it at full speed.

And I will just say I was in New York for 24 hours last week on Thursday and Friday, and you know, in New York they've built all sorts of crazy infrastructure for bikes and and alternate forms of transportation.

And the electric bikes in their dedicated lanes were passing buses, taxis, cars.

They were by far the fastest vehicles on Fifth and Sixth Avenue.

So we certainly want to avoid that.

We'll I'd like to say we're gonna get ahead of it.

Technology's gotten a little bit ahead of us, but we're gonna catch up.

So I think it's worthy endeavor.

All right.

So we'll we'll take it up when TNT is what I hear from the chair.

And I think that's a uh appropriate place to do it.

Uh look forward to a robust discussion and bring that back before council.

We've got a few other comments.

Councilman Appel.

I promise I'll be real brief here.

If when y'all are talking about all this, um they are becoming more and more predominant on the greenway, and I assume the bike way, although I'm not over in the bike way as much.

And um, you know, I would think that since that is a city-owned park essentially, we would have more legal authority to sort of dictate what can and can't happen um on the greenway and the bikeway.

So I would just ask that to be all thrown in and you know, maybe we can get some of our new mounted patrols chasing after these bikes, and it would be like a hundred thousand years of human transportation development in cap, you know, in one scene, and we'll get it captured.

So thank y'all.

That's good.

Uh Councilman Mitchell.

Oh, yes.

I mean, if they're gonna take a look at it, they're gonna look at uh holistically because if you're looking at that, you should look at the skateboards that have the motorized skateboard coming down.

And if you live on King Street where I live, that's all day long.

And they do not pay any uh attention to traffic lights.

You stop for the light, they shoot on by night.

My thing is I don't want to see anyone to get hurt.

That's my problem.

I don't want to see no young person get hurt out there because they're you're not stopping to stop sign.

I don't want to see, I don't want to see no one get hurt.

So this is a if you're gonna take that up, you gotta it's gonna be larger than you think it is.

When we came up, we made our own skateboards.

You know, there wasn't no motorized.

So now they're going crazy now.

So you've got to look at that very seriously.

If you're going to look at just to doing the bicycle, you're gonna have to look at the skateboarders, you have to look at these other things too.

So I don't know how you're gonna do it and how it's going to get done.

Uh we've had a conversation about that.

We're gonna do it in stages.

Um, but we're gonna do it.

And um Ms.

Cruther sitting back there has been voluntold that she's gonna help us get through the legal process on that.

So we it it's on our minds, and we get it.

It's a big task.

Um, but we'll do it.

Okay.

Um good plan of action there.

We are now moving on to consent agenda items.

We've got two reports, one from uh the rec commission as well as one from TNT.

Uh, so I'll call on uh let's see, count uh uh no action, no action on rec or TNT.

Okay.

Um now we got a committee report from uh public safety uh call on councilmember Sheley.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um the uh committee on public safety met September 16th at 4 p.m.

We had a um the police department asked for a uh to apply for a grant for 298,000 for DNA capacity enhancement for backlog reduction grant.

There was no match required for that.

Uh we had an ordinance to amend chapter five of the code of the city of Charleston, South Carolina to permit microchipping by animal shelter personnel.

Um we had an executive session uh that we went into to discuss proposed location of uh fire station 20 and the need for additional acreage to accommodate future public use uh to include potential action and authorize staff to begin acquisition, including an up to condemnation.

The uh committee came out of executive session and voted to approve acquisition on the entire parcel by any legal means necessary, up to and including condemnation.

Now we would need to, as part of our approval of this report, we would need to give first reading uh to the following bill from public safety, and that is an ordinance to amend chapter five of the code of the city of Charleston, South Carolina to permit microchipping by animal shelter personnel as amended by the committee.

So that concludes my report, but we definitely need a uh motion to approve and a second.

We have a motion made, and this is on uh the uh the chip.

Yes, we have motion made, property seconded.

Any further discussion on this?

If none, all those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye opposed, eyes have it.

Um I guess we need a approval for the full report as well.

If we said that was just for the microchipping.

Right.

So um we have an approval with a motion made for approval of the full report.

Can I get a we have a second?

Um before we move on from this or vote on this.

Uh I did just want to say as it relates to item um L1C.

Uh the location for fire station 20.

I want to make it very clear that this is critical for the city and our life safety needs.

Um, I don't have to tell y'all that uh the Canehoy Peninsula is growing.

Um is one of the fastest growing areas, certainly in our region, if not the state.

We need to get ahead of, and frankly, we are behind on placing our life safety materials, but not just life safety locations, but not just that.

We really do have a need for all 22 acres there for other efforts with regards to basic city functioning.

Um to include recreation to include a number of different other uses.

So just want to make that point very clear that the city does need all 22 of those acres.

Uh and so we've got a motion made, probably seconded.

All those in favor for adopting this report signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

Ayes have it.

We are now like now like to call on Councilmember Mitchell for uh report on community development.

Community development met on September 18th at 3 p.m.

And we had only three items.

The first item was a presentation review and approval of the proposed changes to HARC enabled legislation that was uh deferred.

Now we'll be coming back with coming back to us and make sure that we have all our proper information together before we approve the HAP resolution.

Then uh you have two other items, uh presentation regarding proposed changes to the zoning ordinance.

And the the last one was a reson resolution certifying building site sales.

So I asked for approval of the rest and my committee.

So we have a motion made uh uh uh approve the committee report.

We have properly seconded any further discussion on this.

If not, all those in favor signify by saying aye.

All right.

Opposed, eyes have it.

Now I call on council member Waring for Committee on Public Works and Uities.

Mr.

Mir, all the um actionable items that you see on the agenda passed unanimously, and I move the adoption of second motion made, adopt the report uh its entirety, properly seconded.

Any further discussion on this or any of these items?

If not, all those in favor signify by saying aye.

Opposed, eyes have it.

Mr.

Mirror, yep.

I would like Mr.

Fountain to come up.

There were two items, well, one items on there about the update of um church creek.

And I think I know two council members wasn't very uh concerned about the update on uh Church Creek.

So if Mr.

Fallon could come and uh present the update as he did to the committee.

I have to make council member, Mr.

Chairman.

I don't have the uh full presentation, which might be a relief to some of the council members uh not as innocent.

But the we did provide uh an overview of the Church Creek process city's done over the last few years is available on the Pull Worstilities committee meeting.

Um we we did review basically the um acquisition the city went through with townhomes as well as a number of other properties from flood flood damaged homes with FEMA.

Um the the one that's most familiar, of course, is the Bridgepoint Downhomes, but also some uh properties on Wolk and Mowler and a few other select properties.

Work with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation on a grant to take those properties, demolish the homes, convert the vacant properties into flood storage with an ecological benefit.

And you can see that now as we've completed the project uh for the ecological and flood storage at Bridgepoint as well as the smaller projects on Mowler and Wolk.

Um Parks Department is working on installing playground equipment at this point and some walking trail enhancements on the bridge point property.

It'll be a really nice uh semi-passive active park space for the for the Church Creek community.

Um we are we have purchase and sale agreements in place for some additional land in the area of Crosstown Church on the south side of Beast Ferry Road.

Uh those acquisitions should go through this calendar year.

Um, we're in design and permitting right now on the last flood storage project under that National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant, um, which is basically south of the church, converting a large amount of that um land, removing some fill that's been placed in the past and restoring uh the full functionality of the wetlands for additional flood storage.

And now we're setting up looking at the next round of projects to move forward with.

Thank you.

Can you touch on the subdivision that was gonna be built as a big subdivision?

Was a harmony?

Uh I know council member uh Sheley as well as Councilman Bowden uh were concerned about that.

And uh maybe I don't know if Ms.

Warton is here or not, but the the amount of money that's in the the TIFF district out there potentially for drainage solutions.

Yeah, absolutely.

So if you move south from the CSX rail line, uh moving south even from Beast Ferry Road, then past the rail line, you move into the downstream sections of Church Creek, um Lake Dotter area as well.

Uh the city worked through a process with a large landowner that was going to be developed as a large residential tract, uh single family residential tract called Harmony.

Um there was a lot of fill that was being placed as part of that tract and a lot of concern in that area that that fill would displace water and push uh push additional flooding into the residential homes that sit along that um storm system.

Um Canterbury Woods, some other neighborhoods are in that area.

So again, city worked with that homeowner.

Uh number of the council members reworked the development rights on the property, um, acquired a portion of the property for the city, and the development rights shifted over to more of a vertical construction approach with a different number of units, uh, which reduced the footprint, eliminated the fill, um, eliminated any stormwater negative impacts and provided some potential positive impacts.

And that area ties in, of course, with Lake Dotter project that we've been working with with Charleston County with some of their ARPA funding that they've contributed to City for a design to improve the berm on Lake Dodder and some of the flow control structures to help with flooding that uh is on the south side of Lake Dodderer that extends uh into that same watershed.

Again, happy to give anyone more details at any point.

Thank you so much, especially on the spirit of the moment like that.

Yes, Councilman Sheehan.

Yeah, thank you, Mr.

Fountain.

Um, in that um, I I guess this may be an Amy question, and I know she's not here, but uh but in that TIFF, we have do you know roughly what we have in there right now?

I know that's probably a finance question.

Yeah, I I have the number of my computer.

I I don't want to give the wrong number.

Okay.

It's it's it's a significant amount of money.

It's somewhere between 10 and 25 million.

I can give you the number in the next few minutes.

So it's after check.

Okay, great.

And then we could use those for those next steps that you're that you're talking about.

That's right.

That TIFF list set up um for stormwater improvement projects within the Church Creek Basin.

Great.

Thank you.

Councilman Baltim.

I just want to quickly thank uh Mr.

Fountain for that presentation.

Thank you for the chairman for putting it on the uh agenda to get that update.

Um, you know, it's been a decade um since well, I guess less time and really catastrophic flooding um uh out there.

And it's uh I've had a few anxious moments uh during my time in this in this seat.

Um, but you know, one of the one of the real benefits of uh being on council is every four years you get the opportunity to go knock on some doors and tell people what you've done.

Um I happen to be in one of those four-year cycles right now.

Um I can tell you that you know, there's in, you know, you know, and we've we've talked about them with with some of these uh sites on on wolk and stuff, but um, you know, there's there's some gripes, but at the end of the day, I mean, people are feeling some confidence about what the city is doing to keep them safe uh in in flood events.

Um, you know, we we had uh I think last year that storm that sat off the coast and dumped, you know, a ton of rain.

I mean, in the past, uh, that is the kind of event that would have um caused structural flooding.

Um, and you know, I've I've got my car and drove around every now and again just to kind of check and see what was going on.

Um, and and water, you know, wasn't even in people's yards in some of the spots where I've I thought that, you know, in the in the past it it probably would have been in homes.

Um, you know, we've we've gotten lucky with some storms, certainly.

So I'm you know, can I kind of knock on wood um and not trying to tempt fate here, but um, you know, the the point being that you know, I I can see it, I can see the progress.

We've got a ways to go, we've got a plan to get there, um, which you know is is not, I think something that we can exactly say about every issue facing the city.

Um, and so um I just want to thank you know my colleagues for um you know your your foresight and in creating the TIFF, uh, some of the other changes that have that have been made um and the differences felt and appreciated.

Yep.

Okay.

Um we did we vote on the motion.

We did, okay.

Um all right now moving on to TMT.

Call council member chairman seekings.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor, fellow council members.

The traffic and transportation committee met tonight.

We also met on September 23rd at 3:30.

Like tonight, we discussed the transportation sales tech initiative tax initiative.

Um, we're gonna have a series of three more special TNT meetings.

Would encourage you all if you've got a moment to come in and sit in and join in.

Um, we've segmented it by area of the city.

So we talked today about John's and James Island.

We're gonna continue John's and James Island next week, go to downtown.

So we're gonna sort of roll through it.

So please come.

Um, those who came today um who are not members of the committee participated as well, and we appreciate that.

Um, this is an incredibly important initiative, not just for the city, but for the region.

And the more input we can get from you to then turn back around and talk to your neighbors and your constituents to gain support for this half cent sales tax, which is, by the way, from an economic perspective, in my opinion, um, the most important initiative that's out there for the next 25 years when it comes to infrastructure, the better.

So uh we're going to carry on and we invite you all to come along to all those meetings and thank you for those who came today.

Um, at December 23rd meeting, September 23rd meeting.

We had a couple of items that need action.

Um we were asked to adopt a target zero resolution, which is in connection with the safe streets initiative for all um and the safety action plan.

We did adopt it unanimously at TNT.

I'd ask that you'll all then approve it tonight.

We approve two traffic calming um applications, both of them on John's Island, one at Grand Bay Lane, the other at Timberline Drive.

If approved tonight, we still have some money, I believe, Mr.

Summerville in our coffers to do some more.

Um, and one is coming down in district eight, so maybe we'll have even more uh money in there.

Um we also approve Miss Eliza Story, who already is an employee of the city as an additional code enforcement officer.

That is my report.

I would ask for approval of items B, C and D, the target zero resolution, the traffic calming, and this story.

We have motion made, properly seconded.

Uh before we vote, do just want to say uh I think it was a very productive meeting, both on the 23rd and tonight, relating to the TST.

I'll just reiterate what the chairman said, make sure that uh every member of council is fully engaged.

I know you will be uh on what our priorities are, so that we can offer those to the county.

Want to just give a um uh uh public service announcement, if you will, to the public that we want your engagement.

This is the time to engage on uh what initiatives you'd like to see on that, because this is going to be uh your money that you're voting on and how and where it will be spent, and we as elected officials owe it to you to be very transparent and open um and clear about where uh uh the money will go.

But I echo councilman uh seeking's point that this is critical.

We get a lot.

Number one complaint we get is about traffic and our lack of infrastructure, and we are in a deep hole, and this is an opportunity uh to be very thoughtful, holistic in our approach and strategic about how and where that money will go.

You as the public, it's incumbent on you to engage to get yourself informed, uh, to work with your council members on county council and on city council so that uh this effort uh gets as much wind behind it as possible and is effective is is most effective.

So uh thank you for wanting that out.

We have the motion made, properly seconded.

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye opposed, ayes have it.

Now on to HR, Councilman Parker.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh, I believe uh councilman Tinkler, thank you so much for taking the lead on that meeting.

I do believe um the amendments were approved at the committee meeting, and we also voted on them tonight.

Do we need further action?

Okay.

Okay.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

And I just wanted to say, I mean, echo what the mayor said to um sharing your mission, vision, and values.

Obviously, our employees are the most important resource we have.

And it is I'm I'm really proud of the work that you and your staff, your administration has done to make sure that that's a priority.

So thank you.

All right, I move that we adopt the report.

Second motion made, probably seconded.

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Now on to Ways and Mains for approved.

Greg.

We have a motion made.

Properly seconded.

Is that as amended?

Because there is one amendment.

As amended, motion made, properly seconded, as amended.

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye opposed, eyes have it.

We are now on to second reading.

Bill's up for second reading.

There we have four of them.

M1 is uh the MUSC overlay and is amended uh for uh basically a scrivener's error.

You have a copy of that slight amendment on your desk.

Um happy to answer any questions on that.

If not, uh Councilman Greg.

Uh yes, Mr.

Mayor.

Just want to thank you and um thank Mr.

Martin Um as well as the MUSC administration.

Um, I had a few concerns a few weeks ago.

And um, I uh really happy with the way this turned out.

I think it makes it a little bit stronger.

And um, so thank you for working with me and alleviating my concerns and again thanks to the MUSC administration for your cooperation.

Great.

Agreed.

Uh okay.

Um, if there are no further questions, can I entertain a motion?

Okay.

I have a motion made, properly seconded.

All those in favor for the four bills up for second reading, M1 as amended, signify by saying aye.

I'm opposed, eyes have it.

Uh shall these bills pass the titles thereof be changed to ordinance and be ordered, engrossed for ratification.

We have a motion made, properly seconded.

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed uh is have it.

We're now yes, Councilman Seek.

I might have the floor just for a moment after that vote.

Please, sir.

Um, so um while everyone's here in the room and we've got MUSC.

I just think it's important to point out what what's happened tonight and what's still ahead.

Um, what we've done tonight is really just lay out the framework of the future of MUSC as it relates to the work they do on campus and how it interacts with the city around it.

There is so much more to come.

And you know, to you use a really bad paraphrase of Shakespeare.

It's not the beginning of the end, it's not the end, it's not even the end of the beginning.

It's just the beginning.

That's all we're doing here.

It's just the beginning.

Um, there's gonna be a lot more that comes with this overlay, I think, before anything actually happens there, including but not limited to the design of that overlay, because what's not included, and I think for those who have been following on really closely, some may assume the roper property is not yet included.

And so that I think will be something we'll have to talk about as the big vision for MUSC comes along.

Um, no design has been done, no individual buildings have been designed.

All of that still is to come.

And um, I have no doubt, as someone who's lived downtown for a long time and interacted with MUSC that that will be a very collaborative process.

Um, that we will have a lot of input on both sides.

Um as it relates to what goes on around MUSC, I just want to make a couple of um observations.

One about mobility, transportation and traffic, and the other about water.

Um, by the time this plan comes into a phase where people are actually thinking about what gets built out there, both the Calhoun Street Corridor and the North South Corridors of Cumming Street, Ashley, and Rutledge will probably have been the most studied corridors in all of the city.

Um Calhoun Street is the home, the future home of Low Country Rapid Transit.

Along with that project, we've spent not one, not two, but three million dollars on doing traffic studies and traffic upgrades along the corridor.

Calhoun Street being part of that.

Um the impacts of the county's um improvements of the base of the James Island connector at Calhoun Street are still out there.

If we can ever find someone to bid on it, if you're out there and you want a good project on Calhoun Street, it's available, it's designed, it's ready to go.

Um the crosswalks at Courtney and Cumming are going to be scattered crosswalks soon.

So we're gonna have a really good grasp on what's going on in that corridor as this project comes online.

Um, and then water.

I mean, to me, and you've heard me say this before, and I'm gonna say it a lot as we go forward.

This is a moment in time for us to partner with MUSC to partner with the county, to partner with the state and to partner with the feds to think about water and water management in the corridor where MUSC sits, and that's the Calhoun Street Corridor.

I mean, if you think about it, and this week was a perfect example, it was impassable.

Well, if you've got a medical district, you can't get to and from, it's not much of a medical district.

So we're gonna have to work together with MUSC with everybody around to make sure that those streets are not water retention devices, that they're actually streets.

They get to and from places that they're not overcrowded, that they're passable.

Um, so I think this is a huge opportunity.

We're at the beginning of it.

We're not giving up anything, we're gaining things.

And as we go through the process, um, and I talked to Mr.

Martin about this today.

There's lots of opportunity to have input about what this actually looks like as it comes through design out of the ground and becomes an amenity, not just on campus, but around the area.

And I, for one, really think that this is the time to be thinking about what goes on around, not just on the campus.

And um, we'll be hearing more about that.

So it's been a lot of hard work.

I know there's been some public input, a lot of it.

Um, still more to come.

And for me anyway, and Councilmember Gregory and Councilmember Mitchell, we're all adjacent.

I think we all think that of these this is an opportunity to make great improvements across the peninsula and frankly throughout the city.

Um, this isn't just a limited benefit to the peninsula, it's to all of us, both on campus and around it.

So more to come.

Thank you.

And I just want to say thank you to Councilman Seekings and Councilman Gregory for your leadership on this effort.

Thank you to MUSC for your collaboration.

Thank you to staff, uh, Josh Martin uh in particular, who's worked very diligently on this.

And also thank you, the advocacy groups and um the homeowners uh uh of the neighborhood associations.

Again, this has been uh I think a healthy, robust discussion.

Uh that this overlay has got a lot of red lines to it.

Um, you know, not everybody got everything that they wanted, uh, and that's you know the way it should be, frankly.

Uh compromise is not a bad word.

So appreciate everybody's effort.

I think this is an incredible uh uh first step as I'm not going to try and quote quote Shakespeare, but uh, but uh first step did a wonderful job on the right subject.

Some really exciting things to come for MUSC.

So appreciate everybody's efforts.

Um, we are now on to first reading again.

There's one bill up here, which I think is really exciting.

This um initiative, this effort for the BAR.

Can I entertain motion?

Sure, there's no discussion while I start signing.

Okay, we have motion made.

I'm gonna just talk slowly, properly seconded all those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Okay.

All those opposed.

Uh the eyes have it.

All right, that uh concludes our agenda for tonight.

If there is no further business, I call this meeting a turn.